Renee Fleming – Guilty Pleasures (2013) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

“Guilty Pleasures” is the long-awaited follow-up to Renees Grammy winner The Beautiful Voice. This album allows Renee to indulge in musical cherry-picking, singing songs and arias in eight different languages. The sheer, unabashed beauty of these pieces provides their thematic connection. Ranging from familiar favorites like the Flower Duet from Lakme (sung with Renees friend Susan Graham) to rapturous, rarely-heard melodies of Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Rachmaninov, Guilty Pleasures is a collection of treats Renee has long wanted to enjoy: an album of pure gratification. A special treat is an aria from John Coriglianos The Ghosts of Versailles, a twentieth-century American opera that allows Renee the chance to sing in her native language.

The “guilty pleasures” referred to in the title of this release by American soprano Renée Fleming are Fleming’s own; they are small pieces that she has always wanted to record. Of course they require no apology at all. Even the familiar numbers, such as the Flower Duet from Délibes’ Lakmé (track 9, performed with Susan Graham), have the kind of freshness that seems impossible if you consider that Fleming has been singing them for decades. Actually some of the music is quite unusual for an orchestral-song-and-aria collection of this kind. Fleming sings in eight languages, including Occitan, and she has both the panache and the prestige to include such items as John Corigliano’s “Once there was a golden bird,” from The Ghosts of Versailles, and “Vendulka’s Lullaby” from Smetana’s rarely heard opera The Kiss. Fleming was 53 when this album was recorded, but it is mighty hard to identify any of the vocal maladies that begin to afflict sopranos of that age. Sample the chilling, silvery finale of Undine’s aria from Tchaikovsky’s early opera Undine, itself not terribly frequently performed, for confirmation. It is not only the creamy tones but the sense of fun and accomplishment that makes Fleming such a joy to listen to, and these qualities are on fully display here, ably encouraged by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Sebastian Lang-Lessing.

Tracklist:
01 – Les nuits d’été, Op.7 – 1. Villanelle
02 – Phidylé
03 – Ombra di nube
04 – Siete canciones populares españolas – 5. Nana
05 – Siete canciones populares españolas – 6. Canción
06 – Undina – Undina’s Aria
07 – Sumerki (Twilight), Op.21, No.3
08 – Les Filles de Cadix
09 – Lakmé / Act 1 – “Sous le dôme épais” (Duet with Janet Simpson)
10 – Chants d’Auvergne – 7. La Delaissado
11 – Chants d’Auvergne – 13. Malurous qu’o uno Fenno
12 – Armida – “Za Štíhlou Gazelou”
13 – The Kiss (Hubicka) – Opera in 2 Acts – Lullaby
14 – Walzer aus Wien – “Frag mich oft”
15 – Wesendonck Lieder – 5. Träume “Sag’, welch wunderbare Träume”
16 – The Ghosts of Versailles / Act II – “Once There Was A Golden Bird”
17 – “O Danny Boy”

Recorded on August 5-9, 2012 at All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London.

Musicians:
Renée Fleming – soprano
Susan Graham – mezzo-soprano on “9”
Janet Simpson – piano on “14”
Philharmonia Orchestra – Conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing

Download:

mqs.link_ReneeFlemingGuiltyPleasures2013Qbuz2496.part1.rar
mqs.link_ReneeFlemingGuiltyPleasures2013Qbuz2496.part2.rar

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